Retirement of the Best Kind
by NoSecretsHere
Summary: Two days before the Himmel Street bombing, the original death retired. The how and the why is something that confused both of us, but no matter the case I am the new death. Rudy Steiner and Liesel Meminger will forever be indebted to me. I, unlike the previous death, took pity on their tragic love story and assured that the two would find each other, alive.


Author's Note: I hate the Book Thief, I hate it with a passion for being so absolutely perfect. I also hate for making me sob loudly at the end. Like the majority of you book thief readers, I hated the fact that the boy with hair the color of lemons died. And like a majority of you, I decided to write my version of how he lived and what happened later.

Title: Retirement of the Best Kind

Summary: Two days before the Himmel Street bombing, the original death retired. The how and the why is something that confused both of us, but no matter the case I am the new death. Rudy Steiner and Liesel Meminger will forever be indebted to me. I, unlike the previous death, took pity on their tragic love story and assured that the two would find each other, alive.

Retirement of the Best Kind

I am not the Death you know. Despite his earlier protests that he could not take a vacation or retire, he was wrong. On October 5th Death retired to some far away island where he could study the color of the sky in peace. I have no idea why I of all the billions of people in the world were chosen to replace him. Perhaps he picked me because Death has passed me closely very often. Perhaps fate decided Death needed to have a feminine touch. Perhaps I chose it myself, a calling or destiny I knew and waited for. The theory of how I got the job doesn't matter. This part of The Book Thief isn't about me and my occupation, this story is mainly about love.

~A Definition~

Doomed Love: An unavoidable ill fortune of two people's mutual attraction, respect, and. selflessness for one another

Death had left me multiple notes on some of the people he enjoyed to watch the most, and one of the most fascinating was by far The Book Thief. She was such a wonder, a anomaly surrounded by a cruel mixture of horror and hope, a true mystery. Her story was one that within the first few hours of my promotion as Death, I devoured. I had always appreciated someone who had a love for books. It was a mutual love between little Liesel Meminger and I. A connection that had me watching her even more closely that the original Death ever had.

Her character was so undeniably strong. While the world was falling apart around her, she stood strong. A light is the best way to describe it. As Death my vision was constantly surrounded by black, the black of ash, the black of decaying body's, the black that followed me around and lingered in my departure. The Book Thief was a light that shone so many others. While her past was full of despair and some of the most torturous feelings, she somehow managed to escape the lifestyle so many others in her case would have. It was while I watched her that I realized I wasn't the only one who noticed what a light she was. Her Mama and Papa had noticed it, the man with hair like feathers noticed it, Ilsa Hermann noticed it, and little Rudy Steiner lived off it.

Oh Rudy Steiner, another light that shone nearly as bright as his best friend's. Another strong character in the play of life. It was only cliche that would leave him to fall in love with none other than the girl next door. It would also be cliche that would have him being professed the required love he longed for when he was no longer breathing. I'm getting ahead of myself though.

I'm the first Death to ever have a love for love stories. Perhaps that is the mark I will leave when it is my time to retire, the Death who was a hopeless romantic. It is with that certification that I can say that the love story of Rudy Steiner and Liesel Meminger is one for the history books. So similar to other love stories happening around the world, yet so undeniably unique it's in own twisted way. The boy with hair the color of lemons and the girl with the dangerous brown eyes.

I do not know for certain what drew me to them. There were much more exciting things going on in the life of the Book Thief. There was her work on a brilliant book, her relationship with her Papa, even her ability to lie so well to everyone around her. All these other aspects of her life that would later hold a lot more importance, yet the one I clung to was the one that started with a snowball to the face. Perhaps it was the way that Rudy looked at Liesel. What a look it was. One that could only be described as the only light a blind man could see daily. Something so precious and appreciated.

Rudy Steiner had not been a stupid little boy. He knew he had been a lucky boy. While now most people looked on at the weird girl who could not read or write well at first like she was a disease, there would come a day when they would be climbing over one another to get the chance to catch such a rare disease. Rudy on the other hand saw her as a disease he had willingly let immerse him the day she stepped onto that soccer field.

The irony was that he often catch himself thinking (usually after she denied him a kiss) that same disease would be the death of him one day. Ironically as well he thought that if he died because of a disease by the name of Liesel Meminger, he would die a happy man. If only he had.

Liesel Meminger was equally not a stupid little girl. She knew she was a lucky girl. Christ she had the one and only Jesse Owens in Germany as her best friend. What a lucky girl indeed. She knew only fate could match two so odd people together. If there had been one thing, other than her Papa, that she had been grateful for since being coaxed off the car on her first day, it would be meeting Rudy Steiner. While she could have done without the snowball to the face, she wouldn't have changed her steps onto that soccer field for anything. Her time on Himmel street wouldn't be nearly as likable if she didn't have her partner in crime.

She was a teenage girl though, so she never outright told Rudy that she did in fact appreciate him. There was all the time in the world to let him know that he was one of the better things in her life. Had Liesel been able to see what the future held for her, she would have turned around and told Rudy everything right then and there. Sadly I am Death, not a fortune teller.

If the original Death could see me, Death yelling to two teenagers who can't hear her to kiss already. What an embarrassment I was to the respected position of Death.

~A Tibbet of Information~

Liesel Meminger had written more pages about Rudy Steiner than she wrote about reading in the Mayor's Library

I would watch her those nights as she would scribble for hours. I could see her surprise when she would read them back and see what a big part of her life Rudy was. I would also see that smallest smile of pleasure at the the fact he was such a big part before it disappeared.

The words came to her so easily. They flew out of her mind and onto the page with the smoothness of her Papa's painting. There was the occasional pause, but watching the Book Thief write was like watching Leonardo De Vinci paint the Mona Lisa. Such a talent that would eventually become such a waste.

A moment not quite caught in the Book Thief that happened not much before I took over was one so sincere and sentimental that it would, pardon the pun, kill me not to share it with you. It happens on a walk home.

"Why isn't it the slut and her boyfriend," a voice calls after them. The name of the voice is unimportant though you could guess easily what type of person would have said such a thing. "He is not my boyfriend!" Liesel yelled in return her brown eyes flashing dangerously. At her age she had no idea that denial could be a thing you could eventually regret. Beside her Rudy smirked not commenting on either shout at the moment. Liesel soon turned back to the front with a huff, her arms crossed tightly across her chest. Seconds later Rudy could no longer hold it in.

"You would be lucky to have me as your boyfriend," he tells her with a smirk. "You Saukerl! Why would I be lucky to have you as my boyfriend," she spat the sentence defiantly. Another moment of pause happened in which Rudy Steiner developed a plan, a plan that in the long run would probably end with Liesel's fist in his face. He decided though that what she would say before that happened, would be very much worth it.

"Mama says I must go to the school," he says casually. He knows he is being cruel, but after years of being denied a kiss he believes he deserves it. Liesel pauses. Rudy walks ahead two steps before he realized she is no longer walking. When he turns and sees her a wave of guilt washes over him.

Our Book Thief is rooted to the street. A wave of nausea gargles her stomach; she is certain if she had eaten more she would be throwing up. Her face is frozen in a look of stricken horror, eyes huge with the slightest brims of tears, and arms wrapped shakily around her middle. Her thoughts surrounding the fact that her best friend would soon become one of them or worse yet, dead. When her brown eyes lock with Rudy's perfect Arayan blue ones, the thought returns to her. Kiss him. Kiss him. Go ahead and kiss him. Just as she's about to make her feet move towards him, so that she can finally bestow him that kiss, Rudy opens his mouth.

"I'm joking! I'm joking! Mama would never force me to go to the school," he rushed to her side to assure her. He had been watching her expression. He himself had felt sick to his stomach at the sight of her. She had looked truly heartbroken. Somewhere deep inside him, he felt triumphant that the thought of him leaving her caused such a reaction. Do not judge Rudy to harshly. He is no matter what a teenager, they do stupid things.

Liesel lets out a breathe she didn't know she was holding in. The feeling to kiss him still doesn't disappear though because in the back of her mind she realizes she can't picture her life without Rudy Steiner. Something her Papa liked to joke with Alex Steiner about was the fact that there was no Liesel without Rudy. Instead of the punch she would usually award Rudy for doing such a thing, she startles him by throwing her arms around him.

"Please. Never say something like that again," she pleads. Rudy stands perfectly still at first before wrapping his arms around her waist. Her words strike him to his core. "I won't. I promise," he tells her holding her tighter. While their relationship had been felt on teases and laughs, such a serious moment was bound to happen. This happened the day before I became death and 3 days before the bombs fell.

If I could have, I would have stopped the bombing that happened on Himmel Street. Death's job however isn't to control death, but to collect it. At least that is what the Manual to Being Death says.

The bombs fell. In the space of a few minutes, they fell and all was lost. How so many lives and futures could be destroyed in a matter of minutes, will always be a question. I did my job well though. I went through each household carefully plucking up the souls of those whose lives had come to an end. There were no "heil Hitler's" to enter the shops. I could just walk in and lift the heavy souls. Himmel street once filled of eccentric lively people was now a graveyard.

With every child I lifted into my embrace, I kissed their heads. Such young lives to end. As most children are in life, they are also scared in death. I try to comfort them as much as possible. Eyes closed, happy memories in their minds, and a warm embrace so they may fall asleep for eternity. Despite what stereotypes may say, Death is not cruel. Every soul we receive stays with us somehow. Their memories linger in our minds, assuring us that they have found a peace. This is my job, I follow the rules. Or at least I did.

When I reach the Steiner's home, I pause outside the door. Death and Fate are good friends. We both are the inevitable. It is because of our good relationship that I entered the house without fear, fate wouldn't begin such a love story for it to end this way. I ran my fingers through Barbra's lovely combed hair, assuring her family would be united eventually. I took the serious look from Kurt's serious sleeping face and one by one I kissed the smaller ones good night.

Then I cried.

Oh crucified Christ, Rudy...

He lay in bed with one of his sisters. She must have kicked him or muscled her way into the majority of the bed space because he was on the very edge with his arm around her. The boy slept. His candlelit hair ignited the bed, and I picked both him and Bettina up with their souls still in the blanket. If nothing else, they died fast and they were warm. The boy from the plane, I thought. The one with the teddy bear. Where was Rudy's comfort? Where was someone to alleviate this robbery of his life? Who was there to soothe him as life's rug was snatched from under his sleeping feet?

An echo. Somewhere, a girl was hammering a paint can with a pencil.

~An Excerpt from A Manual to Being Death~

Your job as death is not to control death. Fate chooses who dies. Your job is to collect death. You are to collect the souls with the knowledge that that is what Fate has decided.

I lied. While this story is about love, it also about me and my job occupation. Death did not choose me because he had passed me many times before. Fate did not choose me to add a feminine touch. I did not choose Death as my destiny.

Fate chose me because he knew I would not be a good Death. Fate knew I would not follow the manual as death should. Fate knew that when I came to this moment 2 days after my promotion, I would make the wrong choice.

Death can cheat Fate.

The lemon haired soul in my arms would not continue with me. I would not allow it. Without a moment of hesitation the soul of Rudy Steiner returns to his body with a shudder. I do not look back. There are more souls to collect, and there is no time to question my actions.

It was later when I was going through the streets assuring that I had gotten every soul, that I noticed a head of blonde curls.

Liesel coughed.

She listened momentarily as a man told the others that they had found a body in pieces. In the street there were shocked pajamas and torn faces. It was the boys hair she saw first.

Book Thief and Death thought at the same time, Rudy?

The Book Thief did more than mouth the word now. "Rudy?"

He lay with yellow hair and closed eyes. From where I stood though I could see the sliver of breath coming in and out of him. A distraught teenage girl didn't. The Book Thief ran toward him and fell down. She dropped a black book that had been clutched in his hand. "Rudy," she sobbed, "wake up..." She grabbed him by his shirt and gave him just the slightest disbelieving shake. Her clenched hands did not feel the soft heartbeat below them. "Wake up, Rudy," and now, as the sky went on heating and showering ash, Liesel was holding Rudy Steiner's shirt by the front. "Rudy, please." The tears grappled with her face. "Rudy please wake up, Goddamn it, wake up, I love you. Come on, Rudy, come on Jesse Owens, don't you know I love you, wake up, wake up, wake up..."

A breath. A pause.

In disbelief, Liesel buried her head into Rudy's chest. She held his body. Thump. Thump.

"God, Rudy..." She leaned down and looked at his face and Liesel kissed her best friend, Rudy Steiner, soft and true on the lips. What happened next was not Rudy Steiner playing a prank, but Fate decided to give a show. Fate has always been dramatic.

Beneath the taste of dust and sweetness, Rudy's lips twitched. With a gasp Liesel flew back, hand covering her mouth. That isn't possible, she thought. Slowly, almost lethargically, the body she once thought dead sat up. She couldn't make a sound. No noise was created in her throat. The tears were still heavily flowing from her eyes. Blue eyes burst open to look at her. A strangled sob erupted finally from somewhere deep inside of her. "Saukerl!" The shout burst out of her as she flung herself onto her still living best friend.

Bodies still weak, the two collapsed onto the street again.

~Moment of Discovery~

He was alive. Everyone was dead. Everyone but the girl sobbing onto him. He had to die to get a kiss.

I watched on at the happy reunion. Enjoying the shocked expression of Rudy Steiner as he was kissed all over the face by that glorious girl next door. Himmel Street was dead, but there was still love.

I am Death. I do not follow the rules. I cheat Fate. I try to keep as much love and hope alive as I can. The day will come when you, Rudy Steiner, and the now Leisel Steiner will be welcomed into my embrace. I only hope that when that day will come, you will greet me as an old friend and remember that it was I who saved this once tragic love story.

Author's Note: this ended up longer than I thought. I honestly hope you enjoyed it. If you think I should write more for Book Thief, let me know. I love reviews! Tell me what you thought, what you liked, what you didn't like, just review. Thank you very much for reading my story.


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